title: Rare-earth magnet ingestion: a childhood danger reaches adolescence.
abstract: Ingestion of multiple magnets may cause serious gastrointestinal morbidity, such as pressure necrosis, perforation, fistula formation, or intestinal obstruction due to forceful attraction across bowel wall. Although the consequences of multiple magnet ingestion are well documented in young children, the current popularity of small, powerful rare-earth magnets marketed as "desk toys" has heightened this safety concern in all pediatric age groups. A recent US Consumer Product Safety Commission product-wide warning additionally reports the adolescent practice of using toy high-powered, ball-bearing magnets to simulate tongue and lip piercings, a behavior that may increase risk of inadvertent ingestion. We describe 2 cases of older children (male; aged 10 and 13 years, respectively) with unintentional ingestion of multiple rare-earth magnets. Health care providers should be alerted to the potential for misuse of these high-powered, ball-bearing magnets among older children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: From the *Departments of Pediatrics and †Emergency Medicine, Emory University, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Beesan Shalabi
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Agha
authors.forename: Jesse J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sturm
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Costello
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004630:Emergencies; D016145:Endoscopy, Digestive System; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000628:therapy; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D059346:Magnets; D008297:Male; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D010842:Pica; D010988:Play and Playthings
chemical_list: D008674:Metals, Rare Earth